The Phoenix City Council’s Planning and Economic Development Subcommittee voted on Tuesday to indefinitely postpone changing a height restriction on a land parcel at Central Avenue and Willetta Street.
The vote follows a recommendation for disapproval for the change from the Central City Village Planning Committee and a recommendation for approval from the Phoenix Planning Commission.
The parcel is an undeveloped lot located at the two streets’ northwest corner south of the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant. To accomplish the height change, the text of the Downtown Code would need an amendment.
The owner, Madot Ventures LLC, wishes to change the height restriction from 75 feet to a staggered design with a restriction of 40 feet at the west end of the lot, increasing to 150 feet in the middle and 180 feet at the east end.
“The reason we do that is to help the sight lines, so people that are living right up next to the project are not right up against a 180-foot building,” said Heather Dukes, Madot Ventures’ attorney.
Dukes said the requested change to the height restriction helps promote Phoenix’s plans to increase urban density. She said that with the parcel’s proximity to the light rail, she believes the height increase will allow greater density in the area to support downtown’s growth.
The subcommittee voted to continue the process of changing the height for an indefinite amount of time. Subcommittee member and City Councilman Michael Nowakowski voiced his concerns about the lack of a proposed project for the site.
“When there is a tenant or a project in place, we can bring it back and have that conversation,” Nowakowski said.
Due to the abnormal process to change the height restriction because of the Downtown Code, Dukes said, the process of finding a developer for the land is difficult. She said she could not provide an assurance of what would be built.
Nowakowski then commented that while the subcommittee could not immediately stop the requested amendment process, he believed the height restriction would stay at 75 feet.
Andie Abkarian, president of the Roosevelt Action Association, also expressed concern about changing the height restrictions. She said that while her organization supports high-density growth, including projects currently in development, she believes the development needs to be consistent with the character of a specific area.
She also took issue with making an amendment to the code’s text.
“The process is rigid and it’s meant to be rigid. And the process needs to continue to be rigid, regardless of individual circumstances,” Abkarian said.
She said the code was developed carefully over the course of seven years, with the input of thousands of stakeholders, an urban design and planning team and the Phoenix City Council. She said it would be dangerous to make the process easier to amend the code.
Contact the reporter at thomas.triolo@asu.edu.
Downtown Devil's community section editor. I also write the Downtown Digest, a weekly column with things to do, with experience writing news articles and creating news videos as well. Graduating from ASU in May 2020.
